Construction Claims

Delay claims can be classified into several categories, each requiring a different approach to resolve. The main types include:

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Excusable Delays – Delays that are beyond the contractor’s control, such as weather events or unforeseen site conditions. These delays often entitle the contractor to a time extension but not necessarily additional compensation.

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Compensable Delays – Delays that are the responsibility of the project owner, such as late issuance of drawings or failure to provide site access. The contractor is entitled to both time extensions and additional compensation for these delays.

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Concurrent Delays – Situations where both the contractor and the owner are responsible for separate delays occurring during the same period. Concurrent delays can complicate claims, requiring precise analysis to determine responsibility and appropriate compensation.

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Understanding the cause and impact of delays is critical to resolving claims effectively. At Scope-PM, we utilize industry-leading delay analysis methodologies to provide a clear, accurate picture of how delays have affected your project. The key methods we use include:

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Time Impact Analysis (TIA)

Construction projects are often subject to unexpected delays that can significantly disrupt the project schedule. Time Impact Analysis (TIA) is a powerful common tool that helps quantify the effects of these delays and supports requests for schedule adjustments or extensions. Scope-PM offers expert TIA services to help you assess delay impacts accurately and protect your project timeline.

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What We Offer in Time Impact Analysis (TIA):

Comprehensive Delay Assessment:

Scope-PM conducts a detailed analysis of each delay, identifying its root causes and evaluating its effect on the project’s critical path. Our team uses advanced scheduling tools like Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project to provide an accurate and reliable assessment.

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Schedule Impact Evaluation:

TIA helps to determine how specific delays affect the overall project schedule. By analyzing the sequence of tasks, dependencies, and resource allocation, we accurately measure the impact of delays and project the revised completion date.

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Data-Driven Support for Schedule Extensions:

When delays are unavoidable, TIA provides the necessary data to support requests for time extensions. Our documentation outlines the delay’s impact on the project, providing a solid basis for justifying additional time.

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Mitigation Strategy Development:

Beyond identifying delays, we help develop strategies to minimize their impact on the schedule. Our team works with you to explore alternative scheduling approaches, optimize resources, and create recovery plans that keep your project on track.

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Clear and Detailed Reporting:

Effective TIA requires comprehensive reporting. Scope-PM provides clear and detailed reports that outline delay impacts, scheduling changes, and recommended adjustments. This documentation supports transparent communication with stakeholders and helps.

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Window Analysis:

This method divides the project into smaller time frames (or “windows”) and analyzes the delays that occurred within each window. By comparing planned versus actual progress within each period, window analysis provides a detailed understanding of how specific events contributed to the overall delay. It’s an excellent approach for assessing complex projects with multiple delays.

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Collapsed As-Built Analysis:

Also known as “but-for” analysis, this method removes the delay events from the as-built schedule to determine what the completion date would have been if the delays had not occurred. Collapsed as-built analysis is typically used in retrospective claims to quantify the impact of past delays and assign responsibility.

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As-Planned vs. As-Built Analysis:

This method compares the original baseline schedule (as-planned) with the actual project performance (as-built). By highlighting deviations from the original schedule, it helps determine whether delays were caused by the contractor, the owner, or external factors.

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Impact as-Planned Analysis:

This approach introduces delay events into the original as-planned schedule to analyze their impact on project completion. It is particularly effective when assessing delay claims based on changes or disruptions that were not part of the original contract.

Comprehensive Change Order Review: Each change order is unique, with its own set of implications. Our team conducts a thorough review of every change order, analyzing how it will affect your project’s scope, cost, and timeline. We examine all aspects, from material costs and labor needs to potential scheduling conflicts.

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Cost and Schedule Impact Assessment: Understanding the financial and temporal effects of a change order is essential for effective decision-making. We use Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project to conduct a detailed impact assessment, identifying how the change will influence your budget and schedule. This data-driven approach provides you with a clear picture of the consequences and helps you anticipate potential challenges.

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Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies: Change orders often introduce new risks to a project. Scope-PM identifies these risks early and develops tailored mitigation strategies to address them. By proactively managing risk, we help you minimize disruptions and ensure that the change order is implemented smoothly.

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Documentation and Reporting: We provide you with comprehensive documentation and reporting for each change order, ensuring all adjustments are transparent and thoroughly recorded. Our reports include clear explanations of cost and schedule impacts, as well as any adjustments to the project scope. This documentation supports effective communication with stakeholders and facilitates smoother negotiations.

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Support in Negotiation and Approval: Securing approval for a change order can be a complex process. Our team offers expert support in negotiating and justifying the change order, using well-documented impact assessments to strengthen your case. We work closely with project owners, contractors, and other stakeholders to ensure the change is understood and accepted, helping you avoid unnecessary delays.

Directed Acceleration occurs when the project owner or the client formally directs the contractor to accelerate the work despite any delays that may have occurred. This type of acceleration typically happens through a formal directive, such as a change order, requiring the contractor to increase labor, extend work hours, or use additional equipment to complete the project on time. In these cases, the contractor is entitled to claim compensation for the increased costs incurred as a result of this acceleration.

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Key Elements of Directed Acceleration:

Formal Directive: A clear, documented instruction from the project owner or client, such as a change order, requiring the contractor to accelerate work.

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Increased Resources: Acceleration may involve hiring additional labor, increasing working hours, or deploying more equipment and resources to meet the project’s timeline.

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Compensation Entitlement: Since the acceleration is directed by the owner, the contractor is entitled to compensation for all additional costs, including overtime, material, and equipment.

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How Scope-PM Manages Directed Acceleration:

Clear Documentation: We ensure that every directed acceleration effort is documented through a formal change order or directive. This guarantees that all acceleration efforts are legally supported and recognized in the contract.

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Cost Analysis: We provide a comprehensive breakdown of the additional costs associated with the acceleration, including labor, overtime, equipment usage, and material costs. This helps ensure the contractor is compensated for all extra expenses.

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Change Order Process: Scope-PM manages the change order process, ensuring that the directive to accelerate is clearly communicated, documented, and compensated under the terms of the contract.

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Negotiation Support: Our team assists contractors in negotiating fair compensation with the project owner, ensuring that all additional costs are covered without delay or disputes.

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At Scope-PM, we ensure that every directive is properly documented and that the additional costs are accurately tracked and calculated. Our team works closely with contractors to manage the formal change order process, ensuring that all acceleration efforts are compensated fairly and in compliance with the contract

Constructive Acceleration occurs when a contractor is forced to accelerate work due to circumstances beyond their control, typically after a legitimate request for a time extension is either denied or not approved in time. Even though the contractor may not be at fault for the delay (e.g., weather issues, owner-caused delays, or differing site conditions), they are still required to meet the original project timeline, forcing them to accelerate work. In such cases, the contractor is entitled to seek compensation for the additional costs incurred due to the acceleration, even if no formal directive was issued.

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Key Elements of Constructive Acceleration:

• Time Extension Request: The contractor requests a time extension due to excusable delays, such as unforeseen site conditions or owner-directed changes.

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• Denial or Inaction: The owner either denies the time extension or fails to approve it within a reasonable timeframe.

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• Forced Acceleration: The contractor is compelled to accelerate work to meet the original deadline, to avoid penalties or liquidated damages.

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• Compensation: Although the acceleration was not formally directed, the contractor is entitled to claim compensation for the increased costs incurred as a result of the forced acceleration.

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How Scope-PM Manages Constructive Acceleration:

• Delay Documentation: We thoroughly document all delays and their causes to support a contractor’s time extension request.

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• Time Extension Denial: If the extension is denied, we ensure the contractor’s response and decision to accelerate work is documented.

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• Cost Breakdown: We analyze the costs of overtime, additional labor, and equipment due to accelerated work, helping substantiate compensation claims.

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• Communication: We maintain open communication with project owners to ensure transparency about the contractor’s efforts to meet deadlines.

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• Claim Preparation: We prepare detailed claims and assist in negotiating fair compensation for the additional costs incurred during constructive acceleration.

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At Scope-PM, we expertly manage constructive acceleration claims by meticulously documenting the delays, the time extension requests, and the circumstances that forced the contractor to accelerate. We ensure that the claim is built on a solid foundation, with detailed evidence of the additional costs and efforts required to meet the original project deadline. Our team provides thorough analysis and support, helping contractors recover fair compensation for constructive acceleration.

 When the actual conditions at a construction site significantly differ from the conditions described in the contract, it can cause substantial challenges. These unforeseen conditions—ranging from unknown subsurface conditions, unexpected soil or rock formations, to unanticipated environmental factors like hazardous materials—often lead to delays and extra costs. Differing site conditions are particularly important in international contracts, as many global construction contracts, such as those governed by FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers) or the NEC (New Engineering Contract), contain specific provisions for handling these claims under the Differing Site Conditions Clause.

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Under the FIDIC Red Book, for example, Clause 4.12 (Unforeseeable Physical Conditions) addresses the contractor’s right to claim additional time and money when encountering physical conditions that were not reasonably foreseeable based on the information provided. This is a common international standard for dealing with differing site conditions.

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Scope-PM’s Approach:

• We perform a thorough site assessment and compare the actual conditions against the project contract documents. This includes analyzing all pre-construction studies and geotechnical reports.

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• Our team meticulously documents all discrepancies between contract expectations and site realities, focusing on labor, materials, and potential delays.

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• We prepare claims that align with international contract standards such as FIDIC or NEC, ensuring compliance with local laws and contractual obligations.

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• We build robust cases for additional compensation and time extensions, addressing unforeseen conditions, whether they involve subsurface issues or hazardous materials.

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• By integrating expert analysis and detailed documentation, we ensure that contractors are fairly compensated for additional work and costs incurred due to these unanticipated conditions.

Disruption claims deal with reduced productivity and efficiency that occur while work is still ongoing, often resulting from late material deliveries, workforce issues, or disruptions in workflow due to changes in project conditions. These claims are essential when the normal flow of work is interrupted, causing inefficiencies and additional costs. Assessing and measuring the impact of disruption requires advanced techniques to substantiate the claim effectively.

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There are several techniques available to measure disruptions:

Measured Mile Analysis: This is the most common method, comparing periods of optimal productivity (unimpacted) with periods affected by the disruption. It is favored for its clear, quantifiable approach to showing productivity loss.

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Earned Value Analysis (EVA): This method compares the budgeted cost of work performed to the actual cost, allowing the project team to assess productivity and detect inefficiencies or cost overruns during disruptions.

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Baseline Productivity Analysis: This method compares actual performance data against the planned productivity outlined in the project baseline schedule.

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Time and Motion Studies: These studies involve real-time analysis of workflows to determine inefficiencies, providing a data-backed approach to quantify disruption.

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Delay Analysis Methods: While typically associated with delay claims, methods such as Window Analysis and Impacted As-Planned Analysis can also be adapted to measure the extent of disruption and its effect on productivity.

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Scope-PM’s Approach:

We use the Measured Mile Method to draw clear comparisons between unaffected and affected periods, ensuring that productivity losses are quantified precisely. This method is recognized by various international contract standards, including those under FIDIC and AACE protocols.

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Our experts conduct Earned Value Analysis (EVA) to evaluate cost overruns and performance inefficiencies due to disruption.

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Baseline Productivity Analysis is employed to compare actual performance data with original project plans, ensuring that deviations caused by disruption are well-documented and substantiated.

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We utilize advanced scheduling tools such as Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project to track changes in the workflow and identify how disruptions affect the project’s critical path.

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Our data-driven analyses are presented in clear, detailed reports that make it easier to substantiate disruption claims, securing fair compensation for extended labor, increased material costs, and lost productivity.

Scope of work claims arise when there is a disagreement between the contractor and the owner over what work is included in the original contract versus what is considered extra work. These claims are critical when contractors are asked to perform work that goes beyond the agreed-upon scope.

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Scope-PM’s Approach:

We meticulously review contract terms and project requirements to determine whether the additional work falls within the original scope or requires extra compensation. Our expertise ensures that contractors are paid for any work that exceeds the contract’s initial scope.

Defective work claims involve poor workmanship or the use of substandard materials that result in construction defects. These claims are typically filed by project owners seeking compensation for the cost of correcting the defects or for delaying the project’s completion.

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Scope-PM’s Approach:

Our team conducts detailed investigations to determine the root cause of any defects, assessing whether they are the result of poor workmanship or material issues. We help owners recover the costs of repairs, or we support contractors in defending against unjust claims.

Termination claims occur when a contract is terminated, either for cause (due to a breach of contract) or for convenience (at the discretion of the owner). These claims seek compensation for work completed up until termination, including demobilization costs and lost profits.

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Scope-PM’s Approach:

We assist contractors in securing compensation for all completed work, demobilization costs, and lost profits. Our team carefully reviews the termination clauses in the contract to ensure that all entitlements are claimed and negotiated fairly.

Payment claims are essential for contractors seeking compensation for work that has been completed but not yet paid for. These claims often involve disputes over non-payment, underpayment, or delayed payments.

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Scope-PM’s Approach:

We provide detailed documentation of all completed work, contracts, and invoices, ensuring that you have the necessary proof to pursue full payment. Our team works to resolve payment disputes quickly to avoid financial strain and maintain positive cash flow.

Warranty claims arise after project completion when defects or issues related to materials or workmanship are discovered within the warranty period. Owners file warranty claims to ensure that contractors address and correct any defective work.

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Scope-PM’s Approach:

We manage warranty claims by documenting defects and working with contractors to ensure that they fulfill their warranty obligations. Our team provides clear evidence of any issues and supports a smooth resolution process.